feed back on lap top connection

[pcatterall]

Re the posts on geting my Dell400 to run on a non Dell 12 to 20 volt adapter and the issue of what the third (centre) pin does.
The DC/DC adapter has only the two( outer) wires. As correctly suggested by forumites the third wire is for the pc to interogate the charger. No major problem though, the pc just informed me that I was using a non Dell device and that problems could occur.
It seems to work fine.
Regards

 

[Guest]

Good news and worth knowing ..

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Maplin do an adaptor that includes a "DELL" connector. Costs a bit more though.

 

[Frankklose]

The black cable which goes to the powerplug has 3 connections.
Outer Screen Minus
Inner cable white is screend as well
Outer Plus
Inner sense wire

 

[captainslarty]

has anyone found a source of the 3 core cable for dell psu's ? the double screened, centre core as the cat ate mine and I could do with rewiring it.